a scrappy hanten

in a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder

the brilliant idea to make a scrappy hanten came to me!

excuse me while I talk to myself…

using several woven fabrics from the stash pile

I started draping Betsy

with a very obvious stripe in the largest fabric

I felt compelled to match the pattern on the back panels

that small scrap was all that was left – yikes!

then there wasn’t enough length for the sleeves

so a piece was added

all the seams are surged – you know what hand-woven fabric can do when it decides to ravel

 everything else is hand stitched – in the spirit of traditional hanten

the front/collar band is a problem

it doesn’t look great when cut as one long piece

but on the diagonal (see first picture) it adds a little drama

 a paper pattern was made to see how it would work

good – but is there enough fabric??

oh well, deal with that when/if it happens

because the collar will have repeating seams

they will look better with top stitching

so top stitch all seams with silk thrums

what to do about lining?

center back use a shibori sample

which one?

I like the stars, what do you think?

the plain indigo is a dyed damask table-cloth

it will work for the remainder of the lining

now for a few midnight stitching sessions

it has to be finished and photographed for April 1st

no fooling!